Over a five-year period, Mark Rolison got downsized and was caught up in a corporate bankruptcy. Frustrated, he vowed to take control of his career first by buying, selling and managing rental properties and then using the proceeds to buy his own business.

The rental properties provided a sizable nest egg to finance the purchase of Frontier Medical Products in Port Washington.

Rolison, 34, bought Frontier Medical Products after selling a commercial building he owned in Mequon and two rental properties in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood.

"I invested in real estate as a long-range retirement strategy, but it turned out to be the launching pad for owning a business," said Rolison.

Rolison bought Frontier Medical Products from founder Robert Griesmeyer, for slightly more than $1 million in a deal that closed in January. Rolison was introduced to Griesmeyer by Matt Bertucci, a commercial broker with Colliers Barry, Milwaukee. Initially, Rolison was interested in purchasing Frontier's 14,000-square-foot building.

After learning about the company, Rolison made Griesmeyer an offer he couldn't refuse. He also bought the building for $700,000.

"There was a point I didn't think the deal would happen, but Mark was driven to own a business," said Bertucci.

The building and business were financed with loans from the Small Business Administration and Port Washington State Bank. For collateral, Rolison used the proceeds from the sale of a Mequon lumber yard.

In late 2004, Rolison sold the Weekes Forest Products Inc. building and yard at 6209 W. Mequon Road for $500,000. He bought the lumber a year earlier for $350,000. The lumber yard was purchased by a partnership led by Mequon attorney Joe Goldberger.

Checking it out

Before he purchased Frontier Medical, Rolison talked to customers, distributors and employees and determined the company had reached a sales plateau. While Frontier Medical was profitable, Rolison was convinced he could double the company's revenue by adding new product lines, expanding into international markets and boosting the overall sales and marketing effort.

Frontier Medical's former owner Griesmeyer built the company into a well-run and profitable firm, but was nearing retirement and wasn't interested in expanding.

"The former owner didn't like to sit on planes to cultivate untapped markets, but I will," said Rolison.

Rolison will travel to Ghana and Nigeria at the end of May on a trade mission with two dozen Milwaukee-area businessmen and state legislators.

Rolison came to Milwaukee in 1998 after earning an MBA from De Paul University in Chicago. He was recruited by Eaton Corp. and worked there for two years in the international sales area of the commercial controls department. He also worked at Gardner Bender, Glendale, and Distribution Dynamics, West Allis, which went through bankruptcy in 2003 and was later sold.

Soon after he arrived in Milwaukee, Rolison started buying rental properties in the city's Riverwest neighborhood and commercial properties in Mequon and Waukesha. Rolison's knack for purchasing real estate and turning it around at a profit gave him the financial clout to buy Frontier Medical.

Rolison is sales oriented, is open to new ideas and options and "doesn't take 'no' for an answer," said Keith Wetherell, a vice president of Port Washington State Bank.

"From a banking standpoint, (Rolison) is the kind of personality we like to see running a business," Wetherell said.

Quarter-century history

Frontier Medical Products was founded in 1979. The company's manufacturing and research and development facility is located at 140 S. Park St. in Port Washington.

Frontier's main competitors are GE Critikon, a Tampa, Fla.-based division of GE Healthcare in Waukesha, and Welch Allyn, a Skaneateles Falls, N.Y., company.

"These companies spend more per year on Post-It notes than we make," said Rolison. "Consequently, they don't pay much attention to us."

Frontier had sales in 2004 of nearly $1 million. The 10-employee company sells its medical products through distributors and manufacturer's representatives in all 50 states. The company is beginning to explore markets in Africa and Latin America.

Rolison is gearing up to introduce several new products in 2006. He is planning to hire a new product development manager who will oversee the new product development process.

Four of Frontier's product managers and Rolison are already working with local doctors and hospitals to get feedback on new products. Rolison would not disclose the products his company is testing.

"I like the medical industry because it's a growth market," said Rolison. "Our goal is to be the mini-3M of the medical industry."

Rolison still owns five rental buildings and duplexes in the Riverwest neighborhood and a mixed-use building in downtown Waukesha. Rolison's real estate company, Bullpen Enterprises L.L.C., provides housing for more than 30 tenants.

He chose Bullpen Enterprises as the name of his real estate company because he spent a lot of time sitting in the Valparaiso University baseball team's bullpen wondering what he would do with his life. Rolison was a pitcher for the northern Indiana university as an undergrad.

Even though he spends more than 50 hours a week at Frontier, Rolison has no intention of exiting the real estate game. He may sell a property or two, but he's always looking to buy into the next hot neighborhood in southeastern Wisconsin.

With a real estate portfolio that's valued at more than $1.5 million, Rolison plans to sell off other commercial and residential rental properties and bid on other companies.

"I'm convinced there are other underperforming companies out there just waiting for dynamic managers to take them to new heights," he said.